This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9B project to build the Barclays Center arena and 15-16 towers at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake going forward. As of 2018, after the arena and four towers were built, Greenland will own 95% of future construction.

Carl Kruger, already under investigation, now has Post looking at his questionable campaign spending

After news surfaced of a federal corruption investigation involving Brooklyn state Senator Carl Kruger--an aggressively unabashed supporter of Atlantic Yards, and recipient of Forest City Ratner-related campaign contributions--now the New York Post is following up with a close look at his campaign spending.

The state Senate's top fat cat lives like a king off his campaign cash, tapping donations to pay for his meals, car, hotel rooms, phone, computers -- even flowers, candy and iTunes, records show.

While Dick Dadey, executive director of the government watchdog Citizens Union, called for a criminal investigation, he acknowledged that lax state laws provide a lot of leeway: "He's abusing the law, even if he's not necessarily violating it."

(The article came with a requisite ambush photo of Kruger.)

Kruger issued a statement:

"Each senator receives an allocation for staff and office expenses. I use funds from my campaign account rather than using taxpayer dollars to pay for additional expenses because of my personal commitment to providing the highest quality services to my constituents."

Embattled Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger last year tapped his campaign fund for $10,500 in payments to an obscure New Jersey company that operates out of a private home and communicates via post-office box, The Post has learned.

The payments went to Reliable Repair Inc., a Fair Lawn, NJ, firm the Democratic lawmaker said was hired to install air conditioning and heating systems at his district office.

...Reached by phone to answer questions about work done for Kruger, Mark Yanishevsky, named as Reliable Repair's vice president, asked: "Why are you trying to blackmail me? How did you find me?"

Comments

I bet Michael Levitis was allowed to plea to only a misdemeanor and keep his law license only because he spilled the beans on Carl Kruger.

I practice law in federal court (SDNY). This isn't some winky-dink state court where they offer you misdemeanor pleas for almost anything because they are afraid that you will take the case to trial and they don't have the time to try so many cases.

Federal court prosecutors have plenty of time and resources to try any case that comes their way. Assistant U.S. Attorneys play hardball in SDNY. It's almost impossible to get a misdemeanor offer in a case like this without cooperating, a.k.a. ratting out someone else.

For them to allow Levitis to avoid a felony and disbarment almost definitely means he spilled something "useful" on Kruger.